Chris Nguyen `27’s Smith Gallery for “All Things Beautiful” opened to a bustling crowd of curious guests. The show features a collection of photography and abstract paintings from Nguyen’s independent study at the College, investigating childhood and examining the beauty in several objects important to Nguyen.
The show, which opened on March 24, features several large-scale photographs transferred onto paper using “SuperSauce.” The method involves printing images onto vinyl, applying the SuperSauce onto the paper, laying the vinyl on top of the paper and peeling away to reveal the image. Nguyen decided to implement these methods to build on the photos themselves.
“Art shouldn’t really be that simple where it’s like, I’m just putting out an image and putting it there,” he said.
The transfer makes the pictures appear almost watery and fluid. Nguyen found that the process added to the abstraction of the images.
“Obviously they’re not going to always be perfect, and it was just really trial and error with these,” he said. “I really liked how it turned out really experimental.”
The back wall also features “Till I Wither Away,” a collection of blue flower photographs with ink-drawn thorns etched over them. Nguyen added the thorns to the pieces the day of the opening, aiming to build on to the thick pink border around the images. “I guess it was the same idea where I just felt it was a little too easy to be able to just print images out,” he said.
Dispersed between the photographs, a series of abstract paintings hang from the walls, each featuring descriptions of meanings for each of the pieces. “I just think of abstract painting, it’s like, it is what it is when you look at it. And you know, I feel like most of the time you kind of need context to know what it’s trying to convey,” Nguyen said.
The paintings feature bright yellows, pinks and soft blues, demonstrating an exploration of color. While painting “I Surrender,” Nguyen fell in love with soft pastel green. He spent time experimenting with the green and other colors that worked well with it.
This green carried over to another of his works, “The Perfect Stranger.” The painting “reflects on the complex relationship of ingratitude I’ve had with my body,” as the description below the painting says.
An abstract representation of folded bones, the description for the piece mentions being in dialogue with Nguyen’s younger self and his appearance, as well as becoming unrecognizable.
Alternatively to the paintings, the photographs only feature the titles of the pieces. Nguyen said the story behind the pieces fit within their titles.
“The whole point of the independent study was trying to capture kind of an emotion of despair and struggle through image, and that’s why I just didn’t feel the need to really write a blurb about them,” Nguyen also said.
“Nostalgia,” which features two photos of a woman posing among a collection of horses and a wooden barn — something that Nguyen mentioned was his childhood barn — is one of many references in an exploration of childhood in the gallery. “The independent study was more about exploring childhood suppression, and the world that I kind of put myself into as a child,” he said.
“All Things Beautiful” is on view in the Smith Gallery until April 4.
